BENGALURU: It’s been almost 10 months since the
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (
BBMP) kicked off its
whitetopping project, which it trumpeted would be the ultimate solution to the city’s never-ending pothole woes. But only one of the eight stretches taken up for the project has been whitetopped. In total, only 20% of the work has been completed till date.
The Palike, however, has now approached traffic police seeking approval to begin work on two more stretches — CV Raman Road from Mehkri Circle to Sadashivanagar police station, and BTS Road between Kengal-Hanumanthaiah Road and MICO Road.
TimesView
Whitetopping is back, and motorists are seeing red. The previous experience of gridlocked roads and endless crawls still haunts commuters who have endured BBMP’s project to fix city’s roads. What’s worse, this technology hasn’t endeared itself to drivers because the pristine condition of roads doesn’t last too long and potholes are back with a vengeance. It’s high time BBMP used a better system to fix potholes and ensure that roads last longer. But, as cynics have pointed out, repeated laying of roads works best for contractors. And they’re in no hurry to change things for the better.
With work on two other stretches — Hebbal-Hennur and Summanahalli-Nayandahalli — scheduled to start on August 27, citizens will have to brace for some serious traffic congestion in the coming months.
“At a meeting with the chief secretary, traffic police gave us a go-ahead to start work on CV Raman Road, though the official approval is yet to come. We have also sought a nod for BTS Road. Once we get the approval and the agency tells us how long the work is likely to take, we will publish this information as well as the alternative routes in the newspaper, after which we will begin work,” said Shastri, executive engineer, BBMP.
BBMP had taken up
whitetopping work along eight stretches, aiming to concretise 100.7km (both left and right side) of roads, but only 19.5km has been whitetopped so far. Work is over only on 20th Main,
Koramangala (both sides), which spans 1.5km. Along most other stretches, the Palike has started work on only one side of the road, and that too is progressing at a snail’s pace.
The agency started whitetopping eight stretches in the first phase of the Rs 723.7 crore project in late 2017, but was forced to discontinue the work after citizens began complaining of heavy traffic jams due to the roads being partially cordoned off. Whitetopping of Kadugodi Main Road (from Hope Farm towards Kadugodi) began last month and 800 metres of the 1.8-km stretch have been covered so far.
Whitetopping work on Kadugodi Main Road has thrown life out of gear for residents, who say it takes them hours to navigate the short stretch. Commenting on the Whitefield Rising Facebook page, Lalitha Venkateswaran said, “I don’t break any traffic rules, I wear my seat belt all the time and don’t go on the wrong side of the road to beat traffic. It took me almost an hour to cross 2km, due to the traffic jam caused by whitetopping between Belathur and Kadugodi. I don’t have a choice but to use the car as I have to pick up my children from daycare”.
Wearing a new look
